“Authenticated, vindicated”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, October 1, 2024 Luke 5: 12-26 (Forward, p. 64) CEV p. 1062

No wonder the crowds were incredulous, and, quite frankly, amazed, at the healings performed by Jesus. Here, in today’s passage, the two miracles He performed illustrate this well. First off, there is the healing of the man inflicted with leprosy. While they are pretty much in agreement that it was some sort of skin disease, scholars seem quite definite in saying that it was not modern leprosy, Hansen’s Disease, that he suffered from. (They postulate that Hansen’s Disease had not yet made its appearance in that part of the world.) Nevertheless, from the evidence at hand, we can be reasonably certain that it was obvious—and disfiguring, and furthermore, made its victim an outcast from society and a pariah. And so, Jesus, in healing this man, accomplished something quite remarkable in this man’s life. He restored him not only to health and wholeness but also to a reintegration into society.

The man who was crippled, paralyzed, was perhaps slightly better off, at least in terms of societal acceptance, but he too was marginalized. He too was on the outside of functioning society, looking in. And here, as before, Jesus restored him to a proper functioning place in his community. But here, you will note, the story gets most interesting. First off, we must take note of the crippled man’s friends. (Mark says there were four of them, which sounds logical, as he was probably something of a ‘dead weight’ to carry). We note that these friends were persistent; they were not willing to take ‘no’ for an answer. When they were rebuffed at bringing the man to Jesus through the doorway, they climbed the steep stairs on the outside of the house and then, venturing onto its flimsy roof, tore a hole in it and lowered their friend down to where Jesus was standing. Such love for their friend, but yes, also such faith in Jesus. (We never hear what the homeowner thought of this ‘home invasion’, but we do know that the crowds were amazed.

The story, however, does not end there. In addressing the crippled man, Jesus says to him, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.” For us, this sets up an unanswered, perplexing question, that of the relation between sin and sickness. But those of the ‘establishment’ that were present, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, there was something much more profound—and disturbing. While we can all forgive sins incurred against ourselves, only God can forgive sins in general. So, Jesus, in saying these words, in their eyes, was presuming to be God. And then, so to give evidence that He could indeed do that, that is, to vindicate Himself and authenticate His claim, Jesus tells the man to pick up his mat and walk. In other words, if He had not said this with God’s permission, then the man wouldn’t have been healed—and yet, he was.

So, our passage is a vindication, not only of who Jesus was and what He represented, but also, like the four men and the leper, of our faith in Jesus Christ. All this shows us that it is not in vain, but, rather, well worth it. We can indeed trust in Jesus no matter what.

Forward notes: “Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him” (verse 13).

“Jesus did the little things so well.

“What strikes me about this verse isn’t the actual healing but the fact that Jesus touched the man with the skin disease—something people were not supposed to do. I wonder when the last time this man was physically touched by another human being.

“The thing about miracles no one talks about is that the miraculousness of them fades away. People who were healed got sick again; those who were raised from the dead died again. While the miracles were miraculous, I believe the true transformation was how Jesus treated those who needed healing as actual human beings and not people to be avoided at all costs.

“The poet Maya Angelou once said, ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Jesus made those in need of healing feel like actual children of God. We may not be able to perform miracles like Jesus did, but we all can remind people of how loved they are.”

Moving Forward: “How will you remind someone that they are loved today?”